We’ve got advance word today on two films. One, the prequel to The Thing, is an object of great curiosity to many fans of John Carpenter’s 1982 film, which stands as a benchmark for practical creature effects. The other, Joel Schumacher‘s home invasion movieTrespass, which stars Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage, just seems like an oddity at this point. Surprisingly, the word on both is relatively positive. Read More »

As we get older, Halloween becomes less about candy and more about being scared. When I was a kid, there was nothing better than walking around my neighborhood and getting as many sweets as possible but, in recent years, that tradition has been replaced with finding haunted attractions to attend with friends. These type of attractions, everything from haunted mansions, mazes and hayrides to converted amusement parks, pop up all across the country. And, in Hollywood, their attraction comes officially licensed by some of the biggest names in horror.

Every Halloween, Universal Studios Hollywood transforms into Halloween Horror Nights and this year not only will Eli Roth himself help design a maze based on his Hostel series, there will be a maze themed around the upcoming prequel to The Thing. They’ll both be open from September 23-October 31. Read some additional details after the jump. Read More »

Seemingly dormant since appearing at the New York Comic Con last year, Universal’s prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing has started to show signs of life this week. A teaser poster arrived (see below) and now there is a trailer.

The movie tells the tale of an ill-fated Norwegian research camp that dug up a shapeshifting alien something in the permafrost of Antarctica, as seen in the early scenes of John Carpenter’s movie. It stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eric Christian Olsen, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen, Kim Bubbs, Trond Espen Seim, Stig Henrik Hoff, Jonathan Walker, and Carsten Bjørnlund and was directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

As part of the screening put together in relation to the SXSW Title Design Competition, Ian Albinson from the website The Art of the Title Sequence put together a nice two and a half minute compendium of excellent film titles. (That features an occasional piece of television, too.) For any long-time film lover, this little video will probably elicit quite a few responses simply on the strength of the title cards on display. I queued several films to re-watch after exposure to just a few seconds of their titles.

Good news: after some concern over the fate of Universal’s prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing, we’ve now got an October 14, 2011 release date for the film. The Thing (yep, still a confusing title for a prequel to a film called The Thing) was scheduled for April, but had that date scrapped not long ago. The film had reportedly gone in for reshoots — not always a bad thing, as Edgar Wright will tell you, and as Germain pointed out — and we didn’t know when the picture would drop.

But a mid-October date will do nicely for a sci-fi horror prequel to a fan favorite sci-fi horror film, especially since the competition is the Footloose remake and Paul WS Anderson’s The Three Musketeers. Read More »

/Film favorite Tyler Stout has released handbill sets for The Big Lebowski and The Thing, featuring art from his previously released (and sold out) limited edition posters. The Lebowski set includes three handbills for $30 (2 4″x5″ prints and 1 4″x8″ print, all three on cream colored paper). The Thing set includes fifteen smaller-sized handbills (14 4″x5″ prints and 1 4″x8″ print) for $35. Both sets are not signed, numbered or limited, but they’re stamped on the back and initialed to prove authenticity. And hey, they’re still some awesome pieces of screen-printed art from Stout nonetheless. Check out the designs after the jump, and head over to Stouts store to buy them now!

Briefly:Earlier this week we saw the first official still shots and behind the scenes images for Universal’s prequel to The Thing. For reasons that no one really understands at this point, the studio is currently calling this prequel simply The Thing, which could create some confusion between the original film and the new picture.

I’d hoped the title might be tweaked, but io9 snapped a pic of a new banner advertising the film at the New York Comic Con, and there it is, bold as brass: The Thing. Only the tagline helps suggest that this is something other than a remake. Still, between the cast (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen and more) and the reports of great pains being taken to retain high fidelity with respect to John Carpenter’s 1982 movie, I’m more optimistic about this one than I’d have expected. Show me a couple great-looking practical effects and I might just be sold.

A few months back Universal invited a handful of web editors to the set of the prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing. This new film, also called The Thing for the time being, is directed by Matthis van Heijningen Jr. and stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Eric Christian Olsen. We weren’t able to make it up to Toronto for the set visit, but can now pass along the first eight shots, courtesy of Universal. Read More »

When will we be able to see The Thing prequel on the big screen? Universal Pictures announced today that the movie will hit theaters on April 29th 2011, two weeks after Wes Craven’s Scream 4, one week following Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood, and a week before Marvel’s Thor. John Carpenter’s 1982 original was released in Summer (June 25th).

Buried director Rodrigo Cortés will next direct Sigourney Weaver in Red Lights, in which she’ll play Margaret Matheson, “a para-psychologist who attempts to debunk a very reputable psychic who has just returned to the limelight after 30 years.” What are the chances her character is named after author Richard Matheson? Pretty good. Cortés told Bloody Disgusting the film is “”about how the brain does not give a true picture of reality.”

After the break, new talent for The Thing and The Help (can we combine those into one film, The Helpful Thing?) and two roles for True Blood‘s Grant Bowler. Read More »